July 8, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 36684775

Hq. Co. 3rd Bn, 135th Inf.

APO 34 c/o P.M. NewYork, N.Y.

Italy

July 8, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I received several letters from you lately but never had a chance to answer them. I wrote you a V-mail letter several days ago as that was the only kind of writing paper I could get. Since then we found this paper in some buildings and I may have to send this free instead of air mail as I have no stamps here. I also have gotten letters from Henry & Henry Lee, which I was glad to get. Last night I got a V-mail from Harry Kuehner. He is always pretty good about writing even if he don't say much.

I thought sure Freddie would have written to me by now but I guess he is kept busy where ever he is at. Hope I hear from him soon and I would like to get to see him but I don't think there is much chance. You can tell Clara that I wrote a few lines to Reno Martini. I don't think I know the kid. I'm not near him so I'm told. I think he is way down in the southern part of Italy taking training. I don't know this for sure but the fellows here say that division is down there getting more training. I'll let you know if I ever hear from him.

I guess you are kept busy canning things out of the garden. Hope you are getting a rain now and then so everything grows. You said the ground was so hard. You should see the ground over here. Its all clay and hard as a rock. I don't see how they raise anything but they seem to have pretty good luck. At times we get into there gardens and get onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and etc. Yesterday some of the boys killed some tame rabbits and fried them. I never ate any of it. We have been getting fresh eggs now and then off of the Italians. We usually have rations or cigarettes to trade with them.

I guess you got the letter where I told you I was in Rome. In fact I was there twice. The day we marched thru I stayed there for several hours. We were all tired and sleepy that day so most of us slept the whole time we were there. About a week after I got to go back there on a 1 day pass which I really enjoyed. Sure was a lot of pretty sights to see. I sent Dora some cards of Rome and I know she will show them to you the first chance she gets. While here in Italy I got to see a volcano. It was Mt. Vesuvius. It was worth seeing to as I read a lot about them in school.

I've been getting a lot of mail but so far I've only gotten 3 Staunton papers. Sure do miss getting them but guess someday they will catch up with me. I've gotten 2 packages from Dora so far and have several more on the way. The first package had nuts, candy, and a box of cigars, which she got from Fritz's Drug Store. Walter said he would let her have a box now and then. She has gotten me several boxes but her brother-in-law gets them for her in St. Louis. Maybe if Freddie asks for cigars you can see Walter Fritz and he may let you have some.

It gets awful darn hot here during the day and cool at night which  makes it good sleeping if it wasn't for the flies and mosquitoes. they are awful bad here.

I hope you are all well at home. I'm feeling fine only I would feel better if I was back home. What is Pop doing these days? Helping in the garden or getting the news up at the park?

Well I must close and I'll try to write more later. Write when you can. Do you ever see Jack or hear from him? I wrote him a letter soon after arriving in Italy but he never did answer it.

So long. Love to all.

Gus


On the front of the envelope is the stamped image that signifies the letter had been checked. Over that is handwritten, "censored by Lt. R. O. Foster." On the back of this envelope my aunt wrote "Received July 18" and "Answered July 18."

Dad continues in this letter to say that though he has written to his brother Freddie he has yet to hear from him. He also asks about his brother Jack and says he'd written him a letter but hasn't yet heard from him. Though Dad seemed to enjoy writing letters, and wrote letters to friends and family several times a week even when not at war, I know that his brothers were not good letter writers.

April 9, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 36684775
APO 15164  c/o Postmaster
New York, N.Y.

Somewhere in Italy

Easter, April 9, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I'll try to write you a few lines even if I don't know much news to write about.

It has just started raining to make it a bad Easter day. I sure hope it don't rain now for 7 more Sundays.

I went to the Easter Services here this morning. Surprised? First time I've been to church since I've been in the Army.

I just wrote a letter to Dora; Uncle Henry and Jack. I guess in time I'll get around to everybody. So far I haven't received any of the Staunton papers but it takes a lot of time.

I'm putting 2¢ of our new paper money in with this letter. I hope you get it. Let me know if you do. The dollars are twice this size.

I think I told you I had 2 lower jaw teeth pulled and the next day I had one filled. My gums are still pretty sore and are still bleeding but I feel a lot better with them out. They were infected.

I guess you folks were busy yesterday coloring Easter eggs for Henry Lee and Mary. I bet they are having a grand time today. I won't get to see any Easter eggs this year along with a lot of other things.

Have you heard from Freddie lately? Dora said that his papers are all marked "Over age." I hope that will mean something for him. Whenever he gets a new address send it to me. Oh yes, whenever you write to me it would be nice if you sent it V-mail or airmail and then I would get it several weeks sooner. Regular mail takes a long time to get here. 

Dora said they were having a lot of grass fires on these windy March days. I guess that kept Bill pretty busy. Is he still on the job or has he been laid off? I guess he is kept pretty busy around the house.

Well if the weather has been good at home I guess Pop has all the garden in by now. Ha Ha. Or does he still go up to the park? Are you going to put a garden over in the lot this year again? Dora said that Bill had his hot bed done and a lot of the plants were up.

I guess since Easter is now past Mamie has caught up with her sewing and has started to clean house.

I guess Dora has given you all one of the pictures that we had taken while I was home. She said they were real good and has sent me a small one but so far I haven't received it. Hope it comes soon. She said that you all took a lot of pictures while Freddie was home. Hope there were good.

Well I think I told you all I know for the present time so I'll close and hope to hear from you soon. Take good care of yourself and hope you had a joyous Easter.

Love,

Gus

This is the photograph that Dad has mentioned in previous letters and again in this letter. It was taken of him and my mother when he was home in Staunton in February, 1944.

In this letter Dad wrote about the pictures that had been taken when his brother Freddie was home. This photograph of Uncle Freddie with his parents Mary and Clemens Haferkamp was taken in the family's backyard at 621 N. Laurel St. in Staunton, Illinois. 

Some family background: My grandfather, Clemens Haferkamp, was born in Germany and came to the United States as an adult in the late 1880s. In 1892 he married my grandmother Mary Brackhane, a daughter of German immigrants who had been born in Staunton and lived there all her life. Dad's two oldest siblings, his sister Mamie (the oldest of the seven children and the only girl) and his brother Bill, never married and lived in the family home until their deaths in the mid-1980s. The family moved into the house on Laurel in 1916 when my dad was about four years old. Before that they had lived in a house on Olive and before that on Main Street. His brother Jack lived with his wife and daughter in Mt. Olive, Illinois. His brothers Henry and Freddie lived in Staunton.

November 14, 1943

Sunday, Nov. 14, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter a few days ago and I was glad to hear from you. I'll try to write you a few lines today as Sunday is about the only day that you have time to do much writting.

So you folks have had a snow blizzard up there. What is that stuff called snow? Ha Ha. You should come south and I guess you wouldn't be bothered with snow although it gets real cool here at night but warms up during the day. We have fire in our stove every night and it feels real good. He had a very heavy rain last Sunday evening and Monday. That was the hardest I've seen it rain for quite a while. I guess it looks more like winter is coming up there than it does down here as everything is green yet. The trees are nearly all pine trees so there is no leaves to fall.

I got a folder from Freddie several days ago. It was pictures of his camp. The pictures were all pretty and it looks like a nice camp although they usually take pictures of the best building and put them in the folders. He never wrote anything but his name on the folder. I also got a card from Jack. I could tell you what he said but to keep from writting so much I'll just send you the card and you can read it. I guess you never do hear from him. I was kind of surprised when I got the card from him. I believe I told you that I got a card from Henry while he was up at Springfield.

So Clara got back from her trip from Alabama. I guess she had a good time but I guess she didn't get to see Freddie a whole lot during the week. I know that is the way it is here. You don't get much time here during the week. They always have something for you to do. I went down to the guest house at the service club yesterday afternoon to see about getting a room for Dora so she can come down here for 3 days on Sunday December 19; Monday Dec. 20 and on Dec. 21. They charge 75 cents a day for the room. When the 3 days are up she can probably go into Starke, the town about 8 miles from here and get a room to stay over for Xmas. I can get a pass on week ends if I haven't any detail to do such as K.P. or guard duty. Most of the fellows get week end passes and go to Starke; Jacksonville or St. Augustine but I haven't left te camp since I've been here.

I got the Staunton paper yesterday and I see where the council left the hiring of a fireman up to the committee for investigation. They better hire a fireman or else replace us fellows who are in the service. I see where Bill Machota has to go for examination with the next bunch. I guess there is quite a few from the fire department in the army or navy by now.

We started on our technical training last Monday. We are learning to tie knots and how to splice wire and also the telegraph code of dots and dashes. I'm sure having a time learning those dot and dashes as that goes all by sound. You have a set of head phones like Henry's old radio had and they send the dot and dashes through that. You are then suppose to write down the letters. So far I've had 10 hours of that code and I'm sorry to say I don't know very much of it but there are a whole lot of fellows don't know as much of it as I do. I hope I learn it soon. We were told yesterday that when we were through with our basic training we would know from 30-50 words and there meanings of the Jap language. The hell of this training is that they don't give you enough time to learn the things proper.

So the Howards finally got the final word of Vincent's death. I guess in a way since it happened that now it is better that they know he is dead then to sit there from day to day waiting for word and worrying whether or not he was dead or a prisoner. While I was up there to see them and after they had that letter from the chaplain Edna got a bottle of perfume from him which he sent from Egypt.

We never did hear any more about get our metals for shooting the rifle. A lot of fellows bought their metals in a Army store in town. Yes I got a little metal for shooting the rifle while I was at Jefferson Barracks.

Well I think I told you all I know for the present time so I'll close and write you more later when I have time.Write me when you have time. You can throw Jack's card away as I don't want it back. So long.

Gus


Dad continues to write home regularly, at least once a week. Interesting to see that it is already snowing back home in Staunton, Illinois. As I said when I started this blog to share his letters, through his letters you do get a peek at what was going on at home and what was going on in his family. He writes about his brother Jack, who had written Dad from his home in Mt. Olive, Illinois, his brother Freddie, apparently in basic training down in Arkansas, and Freddie's wife Clara. In this letter we learn that his cousin Vincent, an Army Air Corps pilot in North Africa, has been confirmed killed in action. He refers again to receiving the Staunton paper. I think that during the war the Staunton Star-Times was sent at no cost to Staunton residents who were serving in the military. One of the things that was regularly published in the Star-Times was the list of local men who had received their notice to report for a physical that would determine their qualification be drafted. Another list that was regularly published was the list of those who HAD been drafted. Those two columns, in addition to the letters he was getting from family and friends, seem to be keeping Dad updated on who is headed to or already in the military from Staunton. Jefferson Barracks is a base in Missouri that had a program that Dad and a friend, Charles Sharp, went to when they were 16. 

November 7, 1943

Sun. Nov. 7, 1943

Hello Mother & Everyone:-

I got your letter several days ago and I was glad to hear from you. I would have wrote sooner but just didn't have time. We are kept real busy most of the time. I also got a card from Henry while he was up at Springfield. I got it yesterday.You asked if I ever hear from Freddie. Well no I haven't. I wrote to him several weeks ago and also sent him a folder of this camp. I don't know if he never got it or just hasn't time to write. I also wrote to Jack the same day I wrote to Freddie as he told me to let him know where I was.

I got a letter from Chief Riley from down at Weldon Springs and he said that Ass't Chief Randolph had died. He wrote this letter on Oct. 28 and he had died the Sunday before. He should have gotten suddenly ill on his way home from work and was taken right to a hospital. That was on Friday and he died 12:30 A.M. on Sunday. He was buried the following Wednesday. Randy was a pretty nice fellow to work for. I guess the boys will miss him a lot. Riley also said that Bob Simon was at Camp Pontchartrian, New Orleans, La.

I got the Staunton paper yesterday and I looked for the council notes but I see where they won't be published until next week. I looked to see if they put on a fireman or what they thought about it. I got a letter from Harry Kuehnen and he thought Bill would get the job starting this week. He said he thought he would get about $150.00 a month.

Has Clara gotten back from her trip yet? I guess she will have a lot to tell when she does get back. Have they made any head ways with getting Freddie out of the service? I hope so. Dora I think is coming down here to see me around Christmas time. I hope she lets me know soon so I can try to get a room for her at the service club as the rooms are nearly all spoken for for around Christmas. She is allowed to stay here in camp for 3 days. They charge 75 cents a day for the room. Two of the fellows in my hut has their wives down here. They are living in a town close by called Starke and are looking for a job. If they find one they are going to stay down here.

I got paid last Monday. I got $26.07 and once before I got $5.00. So that makes $31.07 I had coming for the 2 months of service. That is after laundry; insurance and the allotment was held off. I guess I was lucky as some fellows didn't draw a cent but owed the government money yet.

Last Sunday I was on guard detail again. I had to walk my post from 9 until 11 and from 3 to 4. So I didn't get a whole lot of sleep as they got everyone up at 4:30 to go to the rifle range. Yesterday I was on K.P. The only good thing about K.P. is that you can get a lot to eat. I sure was tired last night after working in that kitchen all day and the day before we got up at 4:30 A.M. and had to walk to the rifle range which is 4 1/2 miles from here. We also had to walk back.We carried full field packs and our rifle. Boy! they sure get heavy.

Well, I have 6 weeks of my basic training in now and starting this week our technical training begins. I believe the hardest part to learn will be there codes. Every message sent is in code. I was issued a pair of pliers and a knife both in a leather case Thursday. That is called a TE-33. Every thing is called by numbers and letters. I guess it will be hard to keep them all straight. But I guess if the rest of the fellows can learn that I can also.

Today is Dora's birthday. She is 28 years old. If it wasn't so hard to get a telephone down here I was going to tell her to go up and see you today and I would call her on the telephone. But you just have to fight to get near one and then it takes 4 or 5 hours for the call to get thru and sometimes it never gets thru. She seems to like her job but I guess she gets awful tired working 8 hours and then spending several hours on the road going and coming from work.

I guess it is pretty cool up there now isn't it? It is warm here in the day time but gets real cool at night. Friday it was cloudy and foggy after 10 o'clock. Everything is green down here as the trees are all pine trees.

I just came back from the Orderly Room where my Lieutenant is interviewing his men. He asked the type of work I done. I gave him the letters of recommendations from Riley and Keuhner. He said he would give them to Captain Brice and he probably would call me in to talk to me. He said he thought I had a good thing for being in the wire section as that take technical training. Well it is a good thing but I still would like to be a fire fighter. I guess I never will hear any more about it.

Well I told you all I know so I'll close and write to you later. Write whenever you have time.

Love,
Gus

In the first paragraph of this letter Dad writes about writing letters to three of his brothers, Henry, Freddie (who was drafted about the same time as Dad and, like Dad, is in training), and Jack, the only one of his brothers who had moved from Staunton. Jack, his wife Tillie, and his daughter Wilma lived in Mount Olive, Illinois. Later in the letter Dad mentions Clara. She is Uncle Freddie's wife.